Everyone was so different. There were the experienced people who felt safe on the courts. The courts had once felt so foreign, but soon became their homes. Then, there were the pack of girls: the girls who would use practice as a social hour, simply craving each other's attention. There was the guy who came to practice as a different person: a person who was tennis. And then there was me, a person looking for a reason.
I was never good at tennis. The ability to control the amount of power the ball needs, in a split second, to perfectly hit a spot where it is impossible for the opponent to return - that did not come naturally to me.
While others on the team focused on becoming the best tennis players, I was watching: watching how they interacted with one another, how they took criticism, how they looked when they failed or excelled.
After observing, I found that the courts became a place of comfort for me, a place away from reality. Whenever I needed to get away, tennis was always there. Returning to practice every day made me a better tennis player, a better me.
I soon found my place on the team, a place that was in between. A place where I could learn from the knowledgeable ones, understand the once frightening pack for who they are, and not what I thought they were, and appreciate what was so unique about tennis that made the guy who came to practice every day keep coming back.
Tennis soon became an enormous part of my life. To me, tennis is not a sport, it is a story: a story that continues to develop new, complex chapters every practice and every game; a place where people come together for their own reasons.
Tennis changed who I was; it made me who I am. It made me a player who cherishes reality. It made me a player who has hope in life. Tennis gave me a sense of belonging. It gave me my place on the sidelines cheering our sports team on, my place helping organize the Homecoming Pep Rally, my place behind the curtain waiting for the musical to begin, my place as captain of my own girl’s tennis team; my place of inbetweens.
Especially by creating my own tennis team, I fell in love with teaching others. I loved the fact that the girls would come to practice wanting to be better. And I felt like I could relate to the girls on the team who simply had no idea what they were doing - because that was me.
Tennis also made me become aware of watching others and interpreting their actions before making assumptions. Being a coach to a team has inspired me to be an understanding teacher for my students.
As the season of spring co-ed tennis reached its last game, I did not want it to end. I wanted to come back to practice the next day; I wanted to come home. I finally felt safe on the courts, and the season was over.
I was never good at tennis. The ability to control the amount of power the ball needs, in a split second, to perfectly hit a spot where it is impossible for the opponent to return - that did not come naturally to me.
While others on the team focused on becoming the best tennis players, I was watching: watching how they interacted with one another, how they took criticism, how they looked when they failed or excelled.
After observing, I found that the courts became a place of comfort for me, a place away from reality. Whenever I needed to get away, tennis was always there. Returning to practice every day made me a better tennis player, a better me.
I soon found my place on the team, a place that was in between. A place where I could learn from the knowledgeable ones, understand the once frightening pack for who they are, and not what I thought they were, and appreciate what was so unique about tennis that made the guy who came to practice every day keep coming back.
Tennis soon became an enormous part of my life. To me, tennis is not a sport, it is a story: a story that continues to develop new, complex chapters every practice and every game; a place where people come together for their own reasons.
Tennis changed who I was; it made me who I am. It made me a player who cherishes reality. It made me a player who has hope in life. Tennis gave me a sense of belonging. It gave me my place on the sidelines cheering our sports team on, my place helping organize the Homecoming Pep Rally, my place behind the curtain waiting for the musical to begin, my place as captain of my own girl’s tennis team; my place of inbetweens.
Especially by creating my own tennis team, I fell in love with teaching others. I loved the fact that the girls would come to practice wanting to be better. And I felt like I could relate to the girls on the team who simply had no idea what they were doing - because that was me.
Tennis also made me become aware of watching others and interpreting their actions before making assumptions. Being a coach to a team has inspired me to be an understanding teacher for my students.
As the season of spring co-ed tennis reached its last game, I did not want it to end. I wanted to come back to practice the next day; I wanted to come home. I finally felt safe on the courts, and the season was over.